


Partners

by RocketRabbits



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, M/M, Not too shippy, eddie doesnt take care of himself, eddie's got a shit sense of self preservation, the symbiote just loves him so much!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 12:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16597802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RocketRabbits/pseuds/RocketRabbits
Summary: Sometimes, Eddie's heart sits heavy in his ribs. The symbiote wants to help, tries to be there, but a partnership is a two way street.





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> does the venom symbiote know i would personally deliver it to eddie brock if only that would make it smile

Some mornings his heart sits heavy in his chest. It's usually after he sleeps the best, after dreams he doesn't remember but can almost taste _(salt iron water on your_ feet _, boy. You stand when I've got somethin' to say to you)_ seep from his brain into every bone, every muscle. His alarm buzzes at five, and his brain buzzes a little with it, his ribs ache ache _ache_ like they were cracked in his sleep.

It isn't real, Eddie, the symbiote offers, but on days when he wakes up that way it doesn't help, and so the symbiote doesn't offer any more, having been scorned enough already, having pled enough already, Eddie, Eddie, we just want to keep us safe.

"I'm safe on my own, goddamnit," he mutters, and neither of them quite believe it.

He jogs, most days, even the days his ribs ache that way, against constant insistence that he needs more rest, better sleep, some water and not coffee, we're hungry, Eddie, _you're_ hungry, but he jogs anyway. There are ways to stop it, the symbiote knows, ways to seep into his muscles and forcibly stop them, but that isn't fair, it's learned. It isn't right to force someone, as much as it wants to. Even if it's to do something good. So it eases the ache, a little, numbs the joints in his knees, and Eddie's wrapped up in thoughts he won't let the symbiote see, so he doesn't notice it hurts a little less. They crest a hill as the city wakes a little more, Eddie stops to catch his breath, sighs, and turns around to trudge home.

His thoughts get louder, probably without his intention, and the symbiote isn't sure if he knows it can hear them. Eddie likes his privacy, especially on days like this, but they're just louder and louder and louder, every friendship he couldn't keep, every person he couldn't protect, every time his father let him down that in time he's come to blame himself for, every lover he couldn't love into staying, and underneath all that, a determination, one fueled with spite and fear.

So loud, Eddie, the symbiote says, we can hear everything.

"Don't listen," he grumbles.

Can't help it, Eddie, you're just getting louder.

Eddie grits his teeth, then, stands a little straighter, that determination flushing through him, but it makes his heart ache. It hurts, seizes, crumbles in aching ribs.

"I can do it my goddamn self," Eddie says, and the symbiote must be louder, too. Maybe it sent him all its concern. "Don't need a fucking parasite fixing me."

The symbiote seethes silently, hot and angry, its own hurt and anger mixing in with everything Eddie can't control. He picks up a jogging pace, again, faster and faster when his hands start to tremble, and the symbiote stays curled down near his stomach, refusing to help with anything.

 

The floodgates open the second the apartment door closes behind them. We are trying to help you, Eddie, the symbiote rages in his thoughts, we are trying to keep us safe! That is our job, that is what we are bonded for. We are trying to care about you and take care of you. You can't push us away.

"I can do it myself," he grumbles again.

We are not a parasite, the symbiote says. We want to help. We need to help. We're worried about you, Eddie.

Eddie crumbles, then, his heart and ribs and hands and knees, and he sinks to the floor in the kitchen, curled in on himself. "You should leave, then," he says, and it's angry when he says it, but scared how he feels it. "I'm not a good host."

Perfect host, Eddie, the symbiote says immediately, because it doesn't understand lying and likely never will, bad partner now. Symbiosis. Partners.

"You're not a parasite," Eddie says, and it's sad how he says it, warm how he feels it, scared how he feels _that_ , "you're the best goddamn thing that ever happened to me and I can't even stumble through this okay."

Let us help, Eddie, the symbiote levels, and Eddie heaves the biggest sigh he's ever heaved. Let us care. Partners, Eddie.

"Symbiosis," Eddie mumbles, and his defenses fall hesitantly. If the symbiote had to put words to it, it would be more like if a big, solid obstacle suddenly became a big, fence-like obstacle; gigantic and difficult, less insurmountable.

Your heart, Eddie, it says, tone quieter than its usual harsh yell. Your ribs.

"Okay," Eddie says out loud, and lets his Other do its magic, feels its warmth surround his muscles and fill in the gaps in his bones until he's strong enough to sit up and pull off his sweaty t-shirt, pull himself up to the countertop.

Water, the symbiote says, so he ducks his head under the tap. It's not ideal, but its sustenance.

"I don't want you to leave," he mumbles into the spray, and how like Eddie to hide in plain sight, like that, how like him to defend himself when his thoughts were already so obvious-

We know, Eddie, we won't.

"Scared," Eddie says, quieter this time, and of course the symbiote knows, its wrapped around his anxious heart and soothing his firing brain.

We know, we can feel it.

"Please don't leave," he says again, and the symbiote nudges his hands toward turning off the tap, nudges his body toward the shower, keeps his heart in their safety. He shivers, just the slightest, in the draft in the apartment, and they smooth over his skin like a protective layer.

Wouldn't, Eddie, they say. Just want to be here.


End file.
